Alright, it is almost time for the Super Bowl! No matter which team you are rooting for, everyone can experience strong feelings from the game! These feelings have often been called “fanxiety!” Clever right?

Ever get anxious before or during watching your favorite sports team’s game?

You are not alone!

Ever wonder why a friend, partner, or family member is anxious, screaming, and/or angry over a game?

You’ve come to the right place!

There is so much happening in our brain and body when we are watching our team play!

According to Dr. Richard Shuster, a clinical psychologist, when our team is not performing well or loses a game, our brain produces cortisol.

If you know anxiety, you know this is the hormone made in our adrenal glands that our body releases when we are under stress.

Dr. Shuster also states, “our brains may produce less serotonin, which can lead to increased anger and depression.”

Have you noticed yourself or other sports fans refer to their team as “we” when watching a game?

Saying statements like, “I can’t believe we missed that pass!” or “We really need our defense to step it up!”

If you are not a sports fan, it may be easy to think, “Okay, John, because you are totally on the field with them right now” followed by an eye roll😶 (hehe).

Well we have neurons in our brain that are called mirror neurons. These allow us to understand another person’s perspective by putting ourselves in that other person’s shoes.

According to LPC David Ezell, “these feelings are magnified when we are watching a football team or player we are fans of because we ‘know’ them. When we see them on the field we are experiencing a portion of the feelings they are having because our mirror neurons are at work.” (Muska, 2017).

This is exactly why we can have such intense feelings while watching the Super bowl! So cool, right??

If anyone gives you a hard time about it, just let them know your mirror neurons are working!

Wonder how to manage these feelings? Stay tuned for my next blog post about it!

Xoxo,

Andrea

Source: Better by Today article, What happens to your body and brain when you watch football, Oct 2017. Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/what-happens-your-body-brain-when-you-watch-football-ncna814401